Lost Luggage - Synchronous Ownership and the Consumption of Cake ep (1985)

When I learned that Lost Luggage were responsible for a DIY ep that way predated the Chateau Relaxeau cd I shared with you last year, I knew that my only hope in fetching one for myself would be to go straight to the source.  I was a lucky man, because former L/L drummer Andy was able to accommodate my request completely, and now I've decided to let ya'll listen in.

If the aforementioned Chateau... was a product of streamlined, '90s alt-rock engineering, Synchronous Ownership... logically skewed to the collegiate-pop tenor of it's own era.  Lost Luggage was a trio at the time of this recording, and featured but two members that would carry onto the quartet incarnation of the group, upon relocating from Chicago to Los Angeles by the early '90s.  In a nutshell, the three-piece set hadn't gone the power chord route just yet, instead settling on strummy and jangly pop, with an occasional bent towards REM.  "Painting the Masses" is the real keeper here, with the jaunty "Laughing Alone" (it's jaunty rhythm perhaps informed by the Smith's "Rusholme Ruffians") folllowing up at a close second.  Still cutting their teeth on these six layers of Cake, Lost Luggage were creating some highly substantive tuneage in the process.  A hearty thanks to Andy for setting me up with everything.   

01. Waters Flow (Mourning Rain)
02. Laughing Alone
03. The Miles Between Us
04. Painting the Masses
05. Dinner in the Dining Car
06. Number Six

Hear

From Palestine to Portland, Maine...

I present you with the masterful second album from an Athens, GA trio I've enthusiastically featured on W/O before.  Enjoy.

Having difficulty accessing the file?  Please try again a little later.  Too many people hammering the link simultaneously is apparently giving Netkup's servers a headache.  With this in mind, I'll leave this up for a few hours past the usual twenty-four, k?  You're welcome to comment, just don't give away anything obvious. 

http://netkups.com/?d=c287549506542

VA - Lessons From Little Hits, Part 2

Little Hits was an unrelated music blog that preceded mine, which largely dealt with left-off-the-dial indie rock obscurities circa the 1980s.  It left a substantial impression on me, so much so that I decided to throw my hat in the ring with Wilfully Obscure.  Last month I shared a self-curated compilation of some of the music I absorbed (or more accurately, downloaded) during Little Hits 2005-2009 lifespan.  At the time I promised two more L/H installments, so here goes with the second.

I won't make any bones about it.  This set is heavy-goes-it on the power pop side of the continuum, with juicy morsels courtesy of The Windbreakers, Shane Champagne, The Green, Marbles, and the X-Teens, most of whom I've yet to dedicate space to on my own pages, but by now I really should have.  There's punkier pop offerings from the likes of the Speedies, and Messthetics obscuros the Thin Yoghurts.  The Spliffs and Something Pretty Beautiful have the jangle bases covered, and New Zealand's Th' Dudes aren't far off that mark either, with their timelessly affecting signature tune, "Be Mine Tonight."  The Bird Nest Roys were another Kiwi delight, who should have made just as big a splash as the Chills if you ask me.  The Necessaries were a criminally overlooked New York troupe that I'm giving a little exposure to here (and maybe something more exhaustive in the future).  I'll leave the remainder of this roster strictly to your own interpretations.  For more background on Little Hits, and to experience the first installment in this three-part mini-series, see my original L/H post here.

Bird Nest Roys - Jaffa Boy
Died Pretty - Winterland
Marbles - Red Lights
Shane Champagne - Hold On to the Mystery
Something Pretty Beautiful - Expect a Miracle Today
Th’ Dudes - Be Mine Tonight
Green - Gotta Getta Record Out
The Maryland Cookies - Don't Lie To Me
Necessaries - Detroit Tonight
Speedies - Time
The Spliffs - You Know What They'll Say
Thin Yoghurts - Girl on the Bus
Windbreakers - Visa Cards and Antique Mirrors
X-Teens - Venus
Yo - Sun and Moon

Hear

The Bongos - Phantom Train (2013, Jem) - A brief overview

Call it impatience.  In 2011, when I hastily uploaded an album's worth of vintage demos from one of Hoboken, NJ's most acclaimed indie aggregations, The Bongos, I went with the recording date of 1981 which they were errantly tagged with.  Not so.  In factt the beginning of that particular entry, I even went so far as to express my own doubts about when the tracks were actually conceived, and soon enough, lead-Bongo himself Richard Barone wrote in and carbon dated the material as being the product of a 1985 recording session.   The songs in question were being proposed for the band's second proper studio LP, Phantom Train, following up '85's Beat Hotel.  As fate would have it Phantom Train didn't see it's intended light of day in 1986.  Or 1996.  Or even 2006.  When the Bongos disbanded in the late '80s, the release of the album became something of a non-priority, but some twenty-seven years on the Train has finally pulled into the station.

My intro the Bongos was a somewhat used and abused vinyl copy of the 1982 singles and ep compendium, Drums Along the Hudson.  Technically, it served as the band's first physical album, and even though the music comprising it was culled from disparate sources, it possessed a flow all it's own - an absorption of idiosyncratic, left-of-the-dial dispatches of it's era, ranging from the Feelies and the dB's to the jittery reverberations of the first generation of CBGB's punk.  By 1983, the big boys (RCA) rang the Bongo's collective doorbell, and thus began a two year relationship with the label, resulting in '83's Numbers With Wings ep, and Beat Hotel, the group's first bonafide LP two years later.

With a major label budget to buttress the Bongos came bigger and better recording options, and it showed on the band's two commendable RCA releases.  Conversely, some of the odd feathers that informed their nascent singles were plucked in the process.  For shame that Phantom Train didn't see a more suitable release date, because while Barone and Co, weren't able to recapture the creativeness of their DAtH era, they were able to reclaim some of the warmth.  "Run to the Wild," "Tangled in Your Web," and "Under Someone's Spell" are taut and indelible slices of guitar pop, that miraculously don't concede an inch to the more gratuitous production "options" of the period.  Elsewhere, "Saturn Eyes" exudes the bittersweet, power-pop inclinations that the Smithereens and Let's Active were renown for, and the even starker "Roman Circus" ascends to the densest and heaviest crescendo the Bongos had scaled yet.

Was Phantom... worth the layover?  A resounding yes if you're a longtime aficionado, and for those who haven't made your acquaintance it's not a bad place to start, just make sure you get around to investigating Drums Along the Hudson while you're at it to get the complete Bongos picture.  While I'm not at liberty to share anything directly from the album, check out the aforementioned demos here.  Phantom Train is available from Amazon and digitally through iTunes. 

The Breathers - Rain Down ep (Sheisterfest, 1990)

Another cold case, this one from New Jersey.  Too bad I only have the cassette version of Rain Down, as the skimpy j-card doesn't offer any pertinent details on The Breathers.  The music is what counts of course, and this crew kicks things off with an inviting jangly rocker, "That Hope," which vaguely recalls the likes of across-the-pond sensations Power of Dreams and the Alarm.  Side two of Rain Down brings it all back home however, specifically the demonstrably more American-ized "Take," a driving three chord surge of anthemic proportions.  The Breathers commercial ambitions are nothing less than pronounced, but they're couched in a rewarding alt-rock context.  There was an ep that preceded this one titled Normal, Illinois that I'm itching to get my hands on. 

01. That Hope
02. Bonfire
03. Take
04. One More Movie

Hear

The Drongos - Small Miracles (1985, Proteus)

If you're gonna record your album on the sidewalk (for Chrissakes) you might as well go all out and start the tape rolling a hop, skip and a jump away from Times Square in midtown Manhattan.  That's what the Drongos did, a co-ed quartet of New Zealand transplants who I introduced you to a couple of years ago by way of their first album.  For an outdoor recording of any variety, the audio here is impeccable, and could easily be mistaken for a studio LP, were it not for the modest applause the band garnered at the conclusion of each number.  Amazingly, there's next to no obtrusive ambient noise (i.e. traffic) to gum up the proceedings.  In fact, if there were any blemished takes of these songs, they were obviously discarded in favor of the pristine versions that comprise Small Miracles.  It's a slight departure from their debut, and remarkably organic given the technological and architectural marvels that were literally surrounding the Drongos.  Performed on battery powered amps and a spartan snare drum, the group's frugal setup lent itself to no-effects, roosty rock and roll with an appreciated indie edge.  Buskin' out nearly a dozen tunes, the Drongos offer a pair of American standards in their setlist, Johnny Cash's iconic "Get Rhythm," and Chuck Berry's "Monkey Business."  Lots of sweet guitar tones on this one as well.  Incidentally, this whole deal went down on September 5, 1984.

01. Substance Abuser
02. With you Without
03. Standing on the Corner
04. Metronome
05. Monkey Business
06. Leave Me Alone
07. Passing By
08. Some Things
09. Small Miracles
10. Get Rhythm
11. Don't Touch Me

Hear

Braver men than me walk the lines of sleep, know the charm where forever and fourth street meet...

Ex-straightedge guys from Indiana repurpose their modus operandi, and adopt the ethos and romanticism of classic Bruce Springtseen for one of 1998's most impressive albums. 

Having difficulty accessing the file?  Please try again a little later.  Too many people hammering the link simultaneously is apparently giving Netkup's servers a headache.  With this in mind, I'll leave this up for a few hours past the usual twenty-four, k?  You're welcome to comment, just don't give away anything obvious.

http://netkups.com/?d=8bbe7c5515628

Yuji Oniki - Shonen Blue (1988, Big Art)

I take comfort in the fact that I'm still discovering stimulating records from as far back as twenty to thirty years ago, made by unknown quantities that fall into my lap every so often.  Yuji Oniki's Shonen Blue is a grade-A example.  Having received high praise from the likes of the late Alex Chilton, and the more recently departed Scott Miller of Game Theory, this seemingly reclusive Japanese/American singer-songwriter was responsible for a handful of albums, including this stunning debut.  Shonen exudes a pastoral folk rock lilt, but it's latch-hooked to the slyly surreal nuances of "new south" indie pop, not far removed from say, Game Theory or the Reivers, but in a demonstrably more pensive and forlorn context.  Yuji's thing is ballads, and the brunt of them wouldn't sound at all out of place on an REM album - more Out of Time than Reckoning but occasionally the opposite.  While still grounded, "Ave 'C'," "Ghosts," and "Fairport" are simultaneously transporting.  Haunting.  Pristine.  Evocative.  It's all here.  For me, Shonen Blue's standout piece is the commencing "Cover," flavored with a chiming, crystalline post-punk guitar lead that smacks of one of Yuji's choicest contemporaries, For Against.  A thoroughly solid record.  My copy suffers from it's fair share of vinyl noise, some of which I was successful at smoothing over, but a cleaner copy is in order.  I found an alternate, blemish free rip of "Cover" from a miscellaneous source that I'm also including in the folder.  BTW, the album jacket is actually white.  I took it upon myself to alter it with a bluer tint in Photoshop.

Two subsequent Yuji Oniki albums exist, neither of which I've encountered thus far.  Mystical Beast blog did a nice write-up of Shonen Blue, thought it looks like the d/l links are dead. 

01. Cover
02. The Gift
03. Ghosts
04. Fairport
05. Ave 'C'
06. Dropping Hands
07. Underwater (...just like you)
08. Speak Low

Hear

The Sycamores - s/t 7" ep (1992, Crackpot)

Aside from their location (Minneapolis) there isn't anything I can tell you about The Sycamores right off the top of my head.  Luckily I don't have to, because they have a fairly comprehensive website to do all the talking.  A few years ago, I snatched their self-titled, 1995 album from a bargain bin, and while it didn't thoroughly bend my ear I took a chance on an earlier 45 that I'm featuring today.  "Red Wing Boots" fares better here than on the full length if you ask me - a deftly crafted morsel of rootsy power pop with no shortage of strummy persuasion.  We are given two b-sides, including the twangy "Stupid Waste."  Mouthpiece Frank Randall bears a slight resemblance to Matthew Caws, but the Sycamores are in almost entirely different terrain than Nada Surf.  You can read up on further Sycamores releases, and how you might be able to obtain them here.

A. Red Wing Boots
B1. My Sun
B2. Stupid Waste

Hear

The Charlie Watts Riots - A Break in the Weather (2013) - a brief overview

Maybe it's just me, but power pop in 2013, doesn't strike me as indiscernible as power pop from say ten years ago...or even twenty.  Fans of this three minute, three chord form are a pretty traditional lot when you think about it, and while I've opted for a more avant strain of the genre over recent years, those with a penchant for power pop purity meshed with big, plump guitars, will do just fine (if not better) with the second album from Albany, NY's Charlie Watts Riots.

And speaking of your penchants of choice, the Riots have serious hero-worship for the likes of Superdrag, Fountains of Wayne, and Super Deluxe.  The trio's modus operendi is keenly rooted in fore-bearers Cheap Trick, but the aforementioned comparisons make that something of a no-brainer, eh?  A Break in the Weather's vivacious opening salvos, "Bottom" and "Luanne" unveil CWR at their most flattering and incisive.  The remainder of Break, while not always as euphoric, is at least doggedly consistent - that is if you enjoy your power pop as linear and straightforward as the group is wont to dole it out.  Then again, this album is made by traditionalists for the traditionalists...and I believe you know who you are.  Hear the Riots in all their hook-ridden glory over at their Facebook page.  A Break in the Weather is available on CD, iTunes and Amazon. 

Fighting for freedom on the television...

A collection of demos and acoustic tracks from a surviving member of the class of '77, making their Wilfully Obscure debut today. 

Having difficulty accessing the file?  Please try again a little later.  Too many people hammering the link simultaneously is apparently giving Netkup's servers a headache.  With this in mind, I'll leave this up for a few hours past the usual twenty-four, k?  You're welcome to comment, just don't give away anything obvious. 

http://netkups.com/?d=b0e22539d9225

The Crush - Here is Where I Cross My Fingers (2002, Adeline)

Speaking of Jawbreaker...  It's enticing albums like this that make me wonder "what if?" Blake, Chris and Adam had stuck around for a fifth LP.  I said the same thing to myself when I got my hooks into the Marshes' Fledgling, and DrugMoney's Mtn Cty Jnk, but in the case of The Crush I'm being far more sincere.  No, there isn't any wholesale plagiarism infecting the dozen stunners that occupy Here is Where I Cross My Fingers, but The Crush do manage to find that fabled twenty-fifth hour 24 Hour Revenge Therapy fell just shy of.  In a nutshell, this Minneapolis quartet ups the emo ante a notch (in keeping with the times if anything else) and tosses in an extra pinch of melody a la Samiam and Seaweed.  Lifetime's Jade Tree albums no doubt made an impression on The Crush as well.  Here is Where... was their second and final album, which had the good fortune of coming out on the Green Day-commandeered Adeline Records imprint.  Even with an overseas tour with GD themselves (including an opening gig in Wembley Stadium no less!) The Crush opted to close shop soon after.  A damn near crying shame if you ask me, considering the strength of this record, or at the very least it's most convincing moments like "Get Out Of My Head And Into My Hands" and "Kick The Cough That Kissed You Cold."  Dazzling stuff my friends.

01-Here Is Where I Cross My Fingers (Summer Song)
02-Everyday Is Everything
03-Get Out Of My Head And Into My Hands
04-Insinuating What?
05-This Shaking Sensation
06-Kick The Cough That Kissed You Cold
07-3/4
08-Dresser Drawer
09-He Thought Himself Sick
10-Sometimes I Fall Over
11-Mission Viejo
12-And For You I Am Dying Now

Here

V/A - Brouhaha 7" (1990/95, Piggly Wiggly/Broken)

Even though Jawbreaker were the only participants on this micro-compilation to gain something of a national foothold, Brouhaha scores well above-par in the consistency department, even two decades-plus after it's initial release.  In fairness, in 1990 I wasn't aware of this records existence or the four Bay Area bands that populated it.  When Broken Rekids was kind enough to reissue it in '95, Jawbreaker was the undeniable draw for me.  By that time, they had been whacked and blighted with a fat major label deal and a monstrously, over-produced album called Dear You, so imagine my relief when I heard "Caroline," a thoughtful ballad-esque piece with a lo-fi heart of gold.  It would later appear on JB'a odds and ends album, Etc., which I thoroughly endorse.

The contributor that I have my second-most familiarity with is Cringer, who featured frontman Lance Hahn, prior to spearheading J Church throughout the bulk of the '90s and beyond. Though Cringer had plenty of originals to their credit, they opted to cover "Razors," a hardcore punk slammer by Monsula,  a combo who happen to appear on side one with a remake of their own, "Cottleston Pie."  Winnie the Pooh be damned.  I don't come equipped with a great deal of first-hand knowledge on Monsula or Nuisance, but I've heard records by both which left a decent impression on me.  This rip was taken from the 1995 reissue on Broken.  I'm sure the first pressing on Piggly Wiglly could fetch a handsome buck or two.

01. Jawbreaker - Caroline
02. Monsula - Cottleston Pie
03. Nuisance - Dragonfly
04. Cringer - Razors

Hear

Jolt - Proof of Total Collapse tape (1992)

When I served up Jolt's singles discography in 2008, I was worried it would fall on deaf ears, given the not-so-robust following they garnered in the mid-90s.  Fortunately, I was proven entirely wrong, and received a healthy amount of comments and emails regarding that rather exceptional Bay Area trio.  I recently learned of a demo tape they put out in 1992, and had the good luck of being able to track down an original copy in quick order (thank you Musicstack).

For the uninitiated, Jolt never produced a proper album or toured extensively, but seemingly everyone who encountered their music became an instant convert.  Bassist and frontman Paul Duarte possessed a strenuous timbre that was full on rasp (a la Blake from Jawbreaker and Jeff Ott of Crimpshrine/Fifteen) but what made Jolt so effective were their ambitious and infectious melodic structures, turning virtually every song into a keeper.  The Proof of Total Collapse cassette features six songs, including five that never made it to vinyl.  More info on Jolt can be had at last.fm and my original entry featuring those crucial singles I mentioned, which are pretty much mandatory listening if this tape makes an impression on you.  Cheers.

01. Lullaby
02. Headache
03. Heaven's Child
04. Isolate
05. The One for Me
06. Goldilocks

Hear

Jill "Scary Thoughts" 7" (1995, Springbox)

I know that a significant portion of you are going to be put off by this blatantly goofball record sleeve.  Unfortunately, that's entirely your loss, especially if you have a sweet spot for early Green Day.  When this lil' slab of wax dropped in 1995, the world didn't exactly require a band like Jill, if only because Tre, Mike and Billie hadn't gone the Broadway route yet.  Then again, I should also factor into this equation that Jill weren't alone in their reverence to Green Day, because at the same time a handful of other "protege" bands were gaining some traction, specifically MxPx, Zoinks! and Bracket - often beating the trio in question at their own melodicore game.  Such is the case with Jill's "Scary Thoughts" which could pass for a 39/Smooth or Kerplunk outtake in a heartbeat.  Da bomb. IMO this tune surpasses just about anything in GD's Warner Bros catalog.  As for the flip,  "Dumbfounded" starts things off on a mellower note - that is until it bursts into power chord overdrive around the one-minute mark.  Evidently, Jill called San Angelo, Texas home.  Would love to know if there was more where this came from.   I'm dedicating this entry to one Eric Zoll, in hopes that he is alive and well.

A. Scary Thought
B. Dumbfounded

Hear

You rolled right by on your way back from shock therapy...

From 1993.  A should've been punk-pop classic of immense proportions from true masters of the form.

Having difficulty accessing the file?  Please try again a little later.  Too many people hammering the link simultaneously is apparently giving Netkup's servers a headache.  With this in mind, I'll leave this up for a few hours past the usual twenty-four, k?  You're welcome to comment, just don't give away anything obvious. 

http://netkups.com/?d=429bbf54c38de
 

VA - Lessons From Little Hits, Part 1

It was more than a simple appreciation of subrosa sounds that served as the foundation for going public with Wilfully Obscure in 2007.  The other part of the equation was a number of other music "sharity" blogs which came before mine that I deeply admired, and first and foremost was a shining beacon called Little Hits.  Curated by Jon Harrison, it was a true music blog in the respect that his original goal was to stick to a song-a-day format (which he succeeded in doing during the mid '00s).  It wasn't the prolific nature of LH, so much as what he was making available through his site - impossibly scarce singles from '80s indie and post-punk acts.  I'm not talking about the likes of the Connells and the Godfathers, or for that matter most of what populated 120 Minutes' playlists, rather overlooked gems from bands whose releases were relegated to local, micro-indie imprints, and private pressings.  Accompanying each glorious blast wave on the Little Hits servers was a depiction of the record sleeve and a brief but informative essay about the music in question.  Gee, I wonder where I got that idea from... 

Theoretically, I never intended for Wilfully Obscure to be modeled after Little Hits, yet so many of the enlightening discoveries I made on there led me to search out the actual records for myself, many of which I've passed on to you in their entirety, as opposed to LH's less legally susceptible "one song" per record policy.  How's that for a run on sentence?  Anyway, those daily revelations really stimulated a record buying habit that continues unabated to this day...and the results have been unveiled here ever since. During LH's 2005-09 run, I managed to purloin 300+ tracks from his Mr. Harrison's hallowed servers.  Many of which were from artists I had never encountered previously, and have yet to feature on these pages.  Today is the first of three collections of left-of-the-dial Nuggets that Little Hits brought to my attention.  The Little Hits website is still intact, but hardly browsable, and furthermore all the MP3 links have been removed.  If you're curious about any of the music in this setlist, my best advice would be to do a Google query with "Little Hits" and the band name in quotes, and you should promptly reach the page you so desire.  To read a little more about the closure of LH, may I point you to The Pitch.

Alter Boys - Piles
Bored Games - Bridesmaid
Circles - Opening Up
Cowboy Mouth - Long Hot Ride
Downy Mildew - Purple Parlor
Idiot Savant - Throw It Away
Mad Turks From Istanbul -  Looking Forward To Destroy
Monkey 101 – French Feelings
The Moss Poles - One Summer
NNB - Slack
The Pencils - Watching The Tears
Snips - 9 O'clock
Speed The Plough - River Street
The Jean-Paul Sartre Experience - Shadows
The Pearly Gatecrashers - Age Of Innocence

Hear

The Suburbans - The Pop Life (1980, Isleford)

The Suburbans were a nervy strum and drang trio, presumably from the NYC area.  Hard to believe this came out all the way back in 1980, given that just about every logic comparison I seem to draw is past the Carter-era, namely The Feelies, Misison of Burma, and even the Figgs.  In fact, singer guy/guitarist Jamie Rosenthal's vocal timbre falls roughly in the range of Burma's Roger Miller and the Figgs Mike Gent.  There’s a little backtracking in a Velvets kinda way, not to mention the Suburban's occasional knack for pulling off slight Brit Invasion maneuvers, but these similarities are dim and likely coincidental.  The band's DIY recording setup is devoid of effects and studio trickery, lending a minimalist stride to The Pop Life.

The frenetic chord-wrangling that grips “No Use to Cry” suggests the Suburbans may have gotten some face time at CB’s or Maxwells during their run.  "Saturday Night Blues (Going to a Party)" is a sprite rave-up that's equally fun.  Other highlights abound ("Suburban Rock" and "I Don't Undertand"), and unfortunately a few clunkers (you're forgiven if you pass on the parodic disco funk of "I'm a Good Dancer").  If anyone can shed a few further details on the Suburbans, please chime in, because there isn't squat to be had about these dudes online.

01. No Use to Cry
02. Saturday Night Blues (Going to a Party)
03. The Way I Look at You
04. I Don't Understand
05. You Don't Know My Name
06. No Love Song
07. I'm a Good Dancer
08. Nobody Told Me How It Would Be
09. Words and Wants
10. Suburban Rock

Hear

Re-up: White Flag - Thru the Trash Darkly 1982/1992 (Munster), R.I.P. Bill Bartell (aka Pat Fear).

Word went out late last night that White Flag frontman Bill Bartell (more commonly referred to as Pat Fear) had made his way into the choir invisible.  The band gestated in the early '80s as a loose parody of the Los Angeles hardcore punk/skate scene.  In the process, White Flag developed a solid body of work of their own, that at moments paralleled the finest material of their So. Cal antecedents.  The 34-track Thru the Trash Darkly, which I originally posted in 2007, focuses on their early and most revered material.  Bill and White Flag continued on in various permutations throughout the remainder of the '90s and well into this century in fact, often collaborating with the Posies Ken Stringfellow.  Please read my earlier White Flag write-up for a few further details and a complete tracklist which I don't feel like repeating here.

Hear

Lifeboys - The Living Class ep (1987)

I made a blind purchase on this one a few months back, and am still weighing whether my decision was a smart one.  A Windy City triple-threat, with something of an identity crisis I might add, (the) Lifeboys initially impressed me with this disk's opening salvo, "Acts," boasting a sonic penchant not far removed from the likes of Rhythm Corps (Method) and Frōzen Ghōst, throwing in a dab of social consciousness as well.  Quite a hook on this one too.  This is followed by the considerably less serious "Rebel Rock/Noble Roll" which bears a shouted, '80s rawk chorus that would be downright cheesy if the remainder of the tune didn't compensate (fortunately it does).  "Talking With People From France" closes things out on a sardonic note, wrapping itself around a fun little hoe-down riff.  You be the judge.  

01. Acts
02. Rebel Rock/Noble Roll
03. One of the New Ones
04. Talking With People From France

Hear

By the time fear takes over we will still be rolling...

Another great debut, this one from 2001.  Soothing, with a subtly surreal undercurrent. 

http://netkups.com/?d=285f29f11e3f9

Medicine - Her Highness (1995) Brad Laner mix

I'm short on time for a write-up, but I think this mix is a big improvement over the original.  Plus it contains a few more tracks.  BTW, Medicine have a new album out, To the Happy Few, and it's up there with Shot Forth and The Buried Life.

01. Black Cherry Water/I Feel Nothing at All
02. All Good Things
03. Father Down
04. Her Highness
05. Wash Me out
06. A Fractured Smile
07. Aarhus
08. Candy Candy
09. The Tunnel/Seen the Light Alone
10. Heads
11. Thanks giving
12. Wash
13. Father Dub

Hear

Nostalgist & Widlhoney (2013, Nostalgium) a brief overview

I've got a couple of new singles to tell you about, both coming courtesy of the Nostalgium Directive, Seattle-based label, who are just starting to make waves in the propagation of dream/drone-pop in the twentieth-first century.

My Bloody Valentine are to shoegazer as The Beatles are to pop music - an inescapable touchstone of which their respective genres are rooted in, and remain a pervasive influence to this day.  Nostalgist's sonic template is not immune to it's share of Loveless-esque ebbs and flows - almost to a fault on "Illusory," but the band offers a rather indigenous facet in frontman Asa Eisenhardt, whose atypically deep and slow vocal panache is downright attention grabbing.  While the remainder of his crew surges along at a usual dream-pop clip, Asa's vox approximate a 45 rpm record being spun at 33.  Perhaps a bit of an exaggeration that, but it does make for one of the most unique permutations this genre has ever produced...and best of all, it practically demands repeat listens.  If the noir hue of "Illusory" wasn't dark enough for you, the even chillier and pounding flip,"Twisting Slowly (Cleansing Doubt)" blacks out the light entirely, treading into similar territory as Red Lorry Yellow Lorry.  Just the kind of blissful bludgeoning I like.

In contrast, Baltimore's co-ed Wildhoney aren't tethered as closely to the Kevin Shields/Belinda Butcher formula, so much as the American read of it that The Lilys and Swirlies perfected in the '90s.  Nonetheless, "Like Me" boasts a wonderfully woozy lilt, tossing in a smidgen of neo-girl band persuasion a la Best Coast.  Elsewhere, "My Disguise" emanates a chiming guitar lead before launching into more traditional 'gazer maneuvers with instantly gratifying results.  Well played.

You can order physical copies of  both records through Nostalgium Directives store, or if you prefer to go the digital route, Bandcamp has you covered.    

John's Black Dirt - Perpetual Optimism Is a Force Multiplier (1994, Grass)

Throughout the '80s and '90s, Minneapolis/St. Paul was the collective gift that kept on giving, seemingly producing more bands than California and New York combined.  Not an entirely accurate analogy but it sure felt like it, and John's Black Dirt were part of the Twin Cities mix.  Snatched up in the Grass Records signing frenzy of '94, JBD played a relatively traditional stripe of indie rock that was way more Chapel Hill than Seattle.  I could easily envision these three lads sharing a bill with Polvo and/or Archers of Loaf.  Heavy goes it on the dynamics too, adopting a similar modus operandi to Seam.  Unfortunately, JBD weren't quite as consistent as their aforementioned contemps, but Perpetual's good 'uns shine like a zillion bucks, with the tuneful soft/loud surge of "Lights Flashing," and "Buicks" bittersweet tinge floating my boat just fine.  Props to "Pugilist" as well. Per a couple of blurbs on Amazon's page for this disk, an unreleased follow-up to Perpetual... is sitting in a vault or closet somewhere. 

01. Congliptious
02. Saltines
03. Movements
04. Buick
05. Fog
06. Happy Apple
07. White Sale
08. Crazy Goddamn Mad
09. Pugilist
10. Falling
11. Wide Load
12. Cloud in Pants
13. Lights Flashing
14. Who Wears the Jerk Hat?

Now on Amazon, or on ltd ed. vinyl courtesy of Bandcamp.

Dot Dash - Half-Remembered Dream (2013, TBM) - a brief overview

Three albums in three years?  What is this, the 1970s?  I suppose when you're not signed to a label that doesn't require you to tour nine months out of the year anything is possible.  As I've mentioned in previous features for their Spark>Flame>Ember>Ash and Winter Garden Light albums, this Terry Banks-led D.C. quartet are not about full fledged Wire worship, as their moniker might suggest.  There are vague parallels (coincidentally in the vocal department) but as evidenced on the bulk of Half-Remembered Dream, Dot Dash are downplaying some of their chillier post-punk inclinations for a slightly more streamlined guitar-pop bent.  Even when they're tamping down demons of yore on "Here's to the Ghosts of the Past" and decrying character flaws in "Shopworn Excuse," the actual delivery of these songs is fairly strident.  Elsewhere, "Bloom/Decay" and "Do Re Mi" travel a similar sonic motif, simultaneously offering some of Dot Dash's boldest melodies to date.  Half-Remembered's real corker would have to be the penultimate "A Light in the Distance," an incisive, power-chord driven slammer that propels the band into Superchunk-esque punk environs.  The concluding "The Sound in Shells" brings things back down to Earth for a smooth touchdown.  Perhaps not as dazzling as last year's Winter Garden Light, HRD makes the case that's it still a great time to be a Dot Dash fan.

Half Remembered Dream is available digitally through Bandcamp, iTunes, and Amazon, and physical CDs can be purchased through The Beautiful Music. A two song taster is available by way of Soundcloud, here and here.